The regular festivals of the Jain year follow the
traditional Indian calendar so the dates vary somewhat from year to year
in the European calendar. Each Indian month is divided into the bright
half (when the moon is waxing) and the dark half, and the days are
numbered within each half-month. The Indian months are given below
alongside the European months within which they fall. The year is often
given according to the Vikram Samvat era which commenced in 57 B.C.
(abbreviated V.S.) or, in Jain circles, according to the Ira Nirvana
Samvat, commencing with Mahavira's nirvana in 527 B.C. It must be
remembered that the Indian New Year falls around October in the European
calendar.

The table below shows the more important dates in the
Jain calendar. Jains also remember the five great events in the life of
each Tirthankara (conception, birth, renunciation, omniscience, moksa).
These occasions are kept as days of fasting, semi-fasting or other
religious activities. Although more than one commemoration may fall on the
same day, they are too numerous to have been included here. In addition,
pious Jains fast partially or totally on the 2nd., Sth., 8th., 1 lth., and
14th. day of each half-month, or engage in other religious activities.